New series, new lineup. The homestand continues with the Colorado Rockies in town for the weekend. For tonight’s opener, Walt Weiss has made some adjustments:
Lots to unpack here, but my eyes went straight to the cleanup spot. Ronald Acuña Jr., after having a night off yesterday, will return to right field and hit fourth behind DH Drake Baldwin, second baseman Ozzie Albies, and first baseman Matt Olson. Michael Harris II will follow, batting fifth and in his usual role as captain of the outfield.
Weiss has been giving his regulars (that aren’t named Olson) some rest here and there, and it looks like tonight is Austin Riley’s turn for a day off. The ever-versatile Mauricio Dubón will man third base instead and drop two spots from where he’s been to hit sixth.
A major storyline from this past series was the production from the bottom of the order, and I’d like very much to see that continue. Left fielder Mike Yastrzemski will hit seventh. Sean Murphy returns to catch for Grant Holmes and hit eighth. His OPS went up a whopping ~200 points after his big 3-for-4 game on Wednesday, but we kind of glossed over that because of Ha-Seong Kim. After notching another hit last night, Kim gets his second straight start at shortstop.
The Rockies certainly won the battle of earliest lineup, which was out around 2:30 pm ET. Here’s the batting order for Warren Schaeffer’s club:
Leadoff man Jake McCarthy and rookie Cole Carrigg will be in the outfield in left and center, respectively. The Rockies also have their team leader in home runs in the three-hole – where we have Matt Olson (37), Hunter Goodman (36) will catch for Tomoyuki Sugano. First baseman TJ Rumfield will hit cleanup. Willi Castro will man the other hot corner and hit fifth, followed by Mickey Moniak as the designated hitter. The bottom three in the order are second baseman Connor Norby, right fielder Zac Veen, and shortshop Ezequiel Tovar.
As noted in the preview, Moniak is the only hitter with a home run off Grant Holmes. Goodman has an extra-base hit of his own with a double.
The Friday night showdown begins at 7:15 pm ET.
